Moussa Dembele shines as Fulham down DC United

Moussa Dembele was superb as he scored a hat trick against DC United (Picture: Getty Images)

For Shad Khan, Saturday evening’s ‘Big Event’ at EverBank Field – basically a 3-0 friendly win for Fulham over DC United – was a commercial master-stroke.

More than 52,000 made their way to the home of Jacksonville Jaguars, keen as they were to witness a not-far-gone Premier League team take on one of Major League Soccer’s highest flyers.

The Pakistani-born American brought his two, multi-million franchises together under one metaphorical roof – EverBank, technically, doesn’t have one – and strengthened a partnership that has raised the American Football profile in London and done much the same the other way.

He also took the chance to unveil the world’s largest ever scoreboards, an investment that comes across as both foolhardy yet, unmistakeably, and joyously, ambitious. A bit like Fulham in many ways.

You get the feeling, however, that this occasion didn’t didn’t quite strike the same pertinence for manager Felix Magath, who fielded yet another youthful team in this somewhat haphazard pre-season of ours.

But while the team shape seemed aslant – Tim Hoogland, for example, featured in defensive midfield – Fulham put on an impressive show against an admittedly-weak DC side.

We dominated proceedings in a way that seemed calculated and premeditated. Nothing special, you may say, but it was a little clinical for an off-season friendly, the way we ate away at our American opponents with some masterful, pacey counter attacks.

And, as though aware his name would quite literally be up in (very large) lights, one Moussa Dembele took his chance to show his worth, firing home a hat trick and wooing his continental hosts.

For months now, we have expected big things from the powerful 18-year-old; a little too much if you ask me. But when you’re shown real, genuine talent, like Dembele, then you begin to, subconsciously at least, await his sudden rise to stardom.

It didn’t happen last year, and you suspect that this disappointed a few. The Frenchman was offered a smattering of competitive minutes and, in a season of turmoil, it’s no surprise he had little effect.

Yet, based on this performance here, we do indeed have a very gifted player on our hands, one that could easily make a difference over this coming season.

It proved to be a signal, and not a particularly subtle one, that Dembele deserves to be in around the first team; one that already possesses six capable strikers.

What mustn’t happen, though, is for us to let this performance excessively alter our expectations of a boy that is still three years short of his 21st birthday.

Obviously, we have a talented individual on our hands, and we would do well to retain his services over the coming years. But the more weight we put on his shoulders, the more likely it is to hold him down.